Commentary: Lack of trust real failure of VA system

3:54 PM,
Jun. 16, 2014

Written by

Richard Levick

We can talk about incompetence. Or indifference. Or bureaucratic intransigence. Most likely, it was some combination of the three that created the tragic wait times and falsified reporting at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) that were so woefully chronicled in the recent VA Inspector General's report.

But let's add another fatal character flaw to the list: "Chronic Distrust." Those two words are likely all that's required as an epitaph for the bureaucrats responsible for the VA scandal that shamed a nation: Distrust of the very people you're supposed to serve, and who so ...